Snakes and Ladders
by Juliet'sEmoPhase
Summary: Sequel to "Hide and Seek". Harry had a brilliant night with Draco when he rescued him from his stupid ex-boyfriend, and was looking forward to their impending date. But now, it seems his own hesitations might get in the way of everything. Muggle AU, little bit of smut.


Author's note 05-02-16: So, I'm a massive dork and I knew my one year Tumblr anniversary was coming up (I guessed the exact day – I don't know whether to be ashamed or proud…) Anyway, I figured this might be a good opportunity to FINALLY write a sequel that both I and my readers have wanted since I wrote the first instalment.

I loved writing Hide and Seek, and I knew I wanted to follow it up with the suggested date pretty much as soon as I finished it. But something wasn't quite right, something was missing, and I hope now, however many months later, I worked out what that was.

Basically, I'm a sucker for broken hearts and the people that fix them, and I really loved writing this. I hope you enjoy reading it too xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Snakes And Ladders

Harry woke with the distinct impression his head was about to split in two. He groaned and tried to squeeze his eyes shut to will the hangover away, but it wasn't doing him much good. So with a sigh, he stumbled out of bed and pulled some clothes on before venturing out into the flat, not wanting to risk startling his flatmate Ron or his girlfriend Hermione by bumping into them in just his boxers.

The night before was coming back to him in snippets. He remembered Mac first, and his stomach plummeted as he stilled by the sink, letting the water run for a good minute before he came back to his senses. It was the most popular gay bar in town, so it wasn't all that surprising they'd run into each other, but Harry was still crawling with mortification. But then, slowly, the rest of the night was coming back to him.

Draco.

He found some ibuprofen and finally filled up his glass, before sneaking back to his room, glad not to have run into anyone along the way. His phone was dead, so he patiently plugged it in and allowed it to charge for a few minutes whilst he took his pain killers and checked his watch for the time. Nine thirty. That seemed important for some reason.

Unable to wait any longer, he held the phone's on button down and watched as it came back to life. The minutes dragged by as the systems gradually re-booted, and then his heart skipped as the ping of a text message flashed up. The number was unknown, but Harry was pretty certain he knew who it was from.

" _Hey Harry,"_ it read. _"I hope your head isn't too sore, still up for meeting today? Draco x"_

Then another message. _"Hi, I'm worried you're still asleep lol, so I won't come over so early. Let me know when you're awake and I can head to you x"_

Harry stared at the messages for a pretty long time, enough so that he had to tap the screen a couple of times to stop it going dark. Suddenly, he felt very sick, and he was uncomfortably certain it wasn't to do with his hangover.

Draco had been amazing last night, rescuing him from facing Cormac alone, being unreasonably lovely to him, saying he wanted to wait before coming up, that he wanted to see him again. And then, finally, kissing him.

He may have been drunk, but he remembered the incredible light feeling that had accompanied him back up to his flat and stayed with him until he'd drifted off to sleep. So why now was he feeling more and more like there was a lead weight on his chest, like he wanted to curl up into a ball of alcohol fumes and disappear from the world?

Why did Draco want to see him, surely it had just been out of pity he had helped him last night? Every thought of him inevitably had Harry sliding back to Mac, and he felt like his skin was raw with open wounds and live nerve endings.

He missed Mac's laugh, the way they'd drive a bit too fast in his car, and the way he would eat his food hungrily in big messy bites, even if he did give Harry a hard time for burning it or making it too salty. He thought of the time they watched the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy back to back, the _extended_ edition no less, and how they'd been planning on tackling _The Hobbit_ next. He thought of how they'd got on the plane to Rome together, of the five amazing days they'd spent there wandering about the city.

Then he thought of that terrible phone call out of the blue, of how his heart had shattered because Mac had apparently just got _bored_ with him or something, and once he'd decided it was over, there was nothing Harry had been able to do about it.

It had been okay yesterday facing him. He'd had his friends, and for some reason Draco had taken it upon himself to start playing someone who was actually interested in Harry, and now it seemed that he really _was_ interested in him.

He'd let the screen on his phone go blank he realised.

He thought about facing Draco today, and whereas yesterday he'd been giddy with the prospect, now he felt like it was crushing him down. He didn't know how to feel about somebody saying they liked him, not after all those times Mac had said it, only to drop him without so much as a care. He squeezed his eyes together, and felt a cold tear slip down his cheek.

No, there was no way he could do this, not today. Today he was going to hide in bed, order pizza and marathon _Drag Race_ or _TOWIE._ Something that didn't require his brain to actually function.

" _Hey,"_ he typed out before he could change his mind. _"I'm actually feeling pretty terrible, I don't think I'll be much fun today. Rain check?"_

He typed, deleted and re-typed a kiss at the end until he growled out in frustration and pressed send without it. He didn't have the energy to think about whether or not he was good enough for Draco, or if he was going to regret this. All he could hear was Mac's voice saying _"It just isn't working anymore Harry"_ and realising he'd rather feel numb than feel that again right now. Nothing was better than risking something.

xxx

He fell asleep again, and woke to the sound of his flatmate's voice, presumably talking to his girlfriend. It was almost mid-day now, and Harry's phone was fully charged.

It also blinked with a new text message, and despite his trepidation, Harry opened it right away to see what Draco had said.

" _Don't worry, that's fine,"_ it started, much to his relief. _"You've got my number now, let me know if you want to meet up after work – drinks maybe, or I could take you to dinner and a film? I'm classy like that ;-)"_ Harry couldn't help but laugh. The idea wasn't abhorrent, and he found himself smiling a little. _"Speak to you soon, Dxxx"_

Harry thought about replying, then decided to wait until later. Instead he ventured out into the flat and suggested the idea of an obscene amount of pizza to Ron and Hermione, who met his idea with extreme enthusiasm.

The day passed. And then the weekend. And Harry was back at work before he realised he still hadn't replied to Draco's message. He spent his lunch break looking at his phone, reading their few shared words over and over again. It seemed too late to say anything now, and that made him feel sad.

But by Tuesday night he was feeling more and more wretched, and he knew something needed to be done.

He opened the messages up again, and before he could over-think it, wrote the first thing that came into his head. _"I'm sorry,"_ he wrote hastily. _"I guess the timing isn't good, I think you're great but I don't think I can think about seeing anyone just yet. I'm sorry x"_

This time he went for the kiss, and pressed send after only checking for typos, not allowing himself to re-write it again or delete it all together.

xxx

The thing he was slowly starting to realise about Mac, the more distance he got from the break up, was that he really hadn't been very nice.

"He yelled at me once because I didn't open a window after having a shower, like," he struggled to articulate. "Like it was the end of the fucking _world."_

Ron and Hermione looked sympathetically at him over their glasses of wine. Dean rubbed his back, and Seamus took a gulp of his pint before pointing his finger across the pub table and huffing. "That man was a psychotic control freak, and you are well shot of him mate."

Harry shook his head. "You all tried to tell me," he said. "I'd moan about him, but then I'd defend him – what was wrong with me?"

Hermione shrugged. "You were in love," she offered. "Or, at least you thought you were. It makes us a bit unreasonable sometimes."

Unreasonable was the word. Harry had _always_ had to do what Mac wanted, and it had seemed _fine._ He thought it had been _caring,_ which was just sick and disturbing now he thought about it. Mac had decided what they ate, what they watched, fuck even in bed he'd been the one in charge, sometimes encouraging Harry to do things he wasn't wholly comfortable with.

Ron squeezed his hand and nodded at him. "We all have bad relationships mate," he said. "Remember that psycho Lavender I dated at school?" That got a laugh and a shudder from them both, and an ill-concealed scowl from Hermione, who had been unfairly subjected to online stalking from Lavender Brown once Hermione and Ron had got together.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Harry sighed, feeling a little better at being reminded that Ron had been through something like what he was experiencing, and had come out of it okay.

"Enough of that," Seamus said decisively. "Have you talked to that gorgeous Draco lad anymore?" Dean made a noise of protest, but Seamus placated him with a kiss. "Oh shut it, you know you're the most gorgeous of them all."

"I err," Harry said, suddenly feeling very stupid. "Haven't really talked to him."

Dean arched an eyebrow. "But it's been weeks?"

"Did he not text you?" Seamus demanded, ready to switch to indignant in a flash on Harry's behalf.

"Oh no," Harry said hastily. "He's text quite a bit." And he had. Though not once had he pushed Harry about meeting up again. He'd just sent him silly messages about what he was eating for dinner, or watching on TV, or when he'd had a tough day at work he'd ranted to Harry in a way that had made him feel irrationally special.

In fact, all Draco's messages had made him feel special, but he'd only mustered a reply to maybe half of them.

"Oh no," Harry said out loud. "I…I think I might have made a mistake."

The table rolled their eyes.

"You can fix it though," Hermione said hastily, tapping his phone that was out in front of him. "If you think he's still interested?"

xxx

In the end, it had taken all of Harry's friends to draft the simple message. _"Hi Draco, I'm sorry I've been a bit unresponsive, I'm free on Saturday if you are? I'd love to finally go on that date. Harry x"_

Seamus had pressed send before he could change his mind, then pocketed the phone out of sight, assuring him he'd tell him if it buzzed, but he was going to forget about it until then.

It had taken Draco ten minutes to reply that he'd love to.

So Harry found himself anxiously getting through the next few days in eager anticipation. He even mustered the energy to text Draco first a couple of times, when he made friends with a cute dog in the park, and when he accidently burned his dinner, as he usually tended to do. But whereas Mac would have told him he was an idiot for both of the silly pictures he'd sent, Draco came back with several heart shaped emoticons for the dog, and a crying with laughter face for the dinner and the caption _"I don't know what you're talking about, that looks yummy!"_

Still, Harry was racked with nerves by the time Saturday came around. He purposefully didn't drink the night before, so he could get up early and hangover free, spending an hour or so fretting between several different t-shirts to wear. In the end Ron picked for him, and Hermione made him as much tea as he wanted.

He still jumped when the buzzer from downstairs went off, but Ron and Hermione were too fast for him as they raced for the intercom and snatched it off the wall. "Hello?" Hermione said, having beat Ron by mere inches. "Hi yes! Come on up."

Harry looked horrified at them both, guessing they'd planned this all along. "Well we've got to _meet_ him mate," Ron scoffed, as if their ambush had been obvious from the start.

Harry though insisted on opening the door, and was taken aback by the sight that greeted him.

He remembered Draco being beautiful from his hazy drunken memory, but in the clear light of day he was nothing short of god-like. Light blond hair fell into his eyes as he looked up through his lashes, and smiled gently at Harry, highlighting his sharp cheekbones and silvery grey eyes. "Hi," he said warmly.

"Hi," Harry breathed.

"Hello!" called Ron and Hermione, no doubt waving behind Harry's back, and he grimaced apologetically whilst Draco chuckled.

"Draco this is Ron and Hermione, Ron and Hermione, Draco."

"Do you want a cup of tea or-" Hermione began eagerly, but Harry grabbed his jacket and bustled out the door.

"No, no, we're fine, thank you!"

The door closed behind him, and Draco stood smiling at him for a moment in the hallway.

"What?" Harry asked sheepishly. Maybe he should have let him come in and be interrogated?

Draco though shook his head. "More fierce friends," he said with an approving tone. Then he took Harry's hand, and everything else seemed a little irrelevant. "Come on," he said, leading him back towards the lift. "Let's go have some fun."

xxx

Harry was once again kicking himself for wasting time before, and worrying stupidly that he could have lost Draco with his ridiculous hesitation. But he knew a part of him had been right as they went through the day that Draco had planned, because even though it was a lovely blur of coffee, a stroll round a new art exhibition and then drinks by the lake, Harry still caught himself occasionally slipping back into melancholy and thoughts of Mac, even though he really didn't want that.

Draco would always snap him out of it though, simply by taking his hand, or touching his back, somehow knowing to give Harry those little displays of affection he had so craved with his ex, and Harry was forced to come back into the here and now. It felt a little like two steps forward and one step back at times, but Draco was there to make sure he still managed to keep going forward, however small the amount.

As the sunny afternoon wore on, Draco suggested they rent a pedalo to take around the lake they'd been sitting beside. Harry had never done that before, and readily agreed.

Draco had insisted on paying for most of the day so far, but Harry firmly handed the cash over for the little boat they were going to borrow for the next hour. He knew he'd been hard work for Draco over the past few weeks, and he wanted to start trying to make that up.

It was peaceful over the lake, with just the sound of the water lapping at the side of the boat and their feet working the pedals through the water. But Harry found his anxiety creeping up again, and eventually he had to say something.

"Thank you," he blurted out suddenly, not quite able to look at Draco.

He felt him turn and smile at him though. "For what?" he asked, genuinely intrigued.

Harry inhaled slowly, then managed to glance over at his companion. "For this. Today, everything." He breathed in and out steadily. "For not giving up on me. I wasn't exactly very nice after that first night."

Draco sighed, and took Harry's hand again in a way he was becoming used to far too easily. "I know you were hurting, and it's okay if you still are. Broken hearts don't mend overnight."

Harry relaxed a little and looked over to him. "You're very patient," he said.

Draco tilted his head. They'd both stopped peddling and were just drifting along the waters now. "You're worth it," he said simply.

Harry felt the heat rise up his neck, and he bit his lip as he looked back into his lap. Draco, the bastard, laughed. "Oh, I like that," he teased. "You're even more gorgeous when you blush."

"Shut up," Harry mumbled, desperately hoping he wouldn't.

xxx

Once again, Draco walked him home, holding his hand and lightly swinging their arms back and forth. He was so easy to talk to, and Harry thought maybe that came from the fact he was just _kind_ to Harry. He listened to what he had to say, he asked questions, he laughed at his stupid jokes. He made Harry feel free in a way he hadn't with anyone else before.

"Do you want to come up?" he asked tentatively, remembering the last time when Draco had politely refused. But his pale pink lips had split into a wide, bashful grin.

"I'd love to," he'd replied.

Harry should have known there was trouble waiting for them from the several text messages Ron had sent him asking what time he'd be back, because even before he opened the door the sounds of a party could be heard, and he froze in horror with what he knew was to come.

Draco though just chuckled and pulled him along the last few steps of the corridor. "It's fine," he assured him, but Harry wasn't so sure.

As expected, the door opened to a flat full of Harry and Ron's friends. Seamus and Dean had joined them again, as well as Neville and Luna, Ron's sister Ginny and her friends Hannah and Susan. There was a chorus of cheers as the party registered the door had opened and Harry was stepping through with Draco, and the two of them could do little to resist as they were swept up into the mêlée.

The evening passed in a blur of music, dodgy punch, an even more ridiculous amount of pizza than Harry was used to, games, and way too many intrusive questions, most of which involved every single member of the group asking both Harry and Draco separately if they'd _done it_ yet. Harry felt like he'd regressed several years into secondary school.

But he couldn't deny it was fun, and it didn't escape him that his friends were treating Draco like a prince returned home, fawning over him and telling him how lovely and gorgeous and funny he was. Harry had briefly wondered why they were being _so_ nice. And then he'd realised.

They had _really_ hated Mac.

Fuck, he'd been such a moron.

Luckily though, the evening eventually came to an end, and Draco showed no inclination of leaving when most of their other guests had. In fact, he allowed Harry to slip them both into his room when the others were hugging goodbye for the third time. "Do you want to stay?" Harry asked shyly, taking Draco's hands, and he nodded back just as coyly.

Harry had an en suite, which he never appreciated more as he and Draco shared his toothbrush, stood only in their t-shirts and boxers. It felt stupidly domestic and normal and Harry's heart sang.

"Come here," Draco said once they had flicked off the main lights, leaving only Harry's bedside lamp. He took Harry's hand and lead him to the bed with a look on his face that Harry even his slightly inebriated state could recognise as reverence.

They lay on the bed, and for the first time since their first serendipitous meeting, began kissing gently. Draco traced his fingertips along Harry's body, and Harry found his own hand drifting through Draco's silky soft hair. Slowly, their clothes peeled off, until it was just skin on skin, bodies undulating as one as Harry let go of his worries and his fears, and made love to Draco, tenderly, cautiously, but most sincerely.

As they lay wrapped in a mess of blankets drifting slowly off to sleep, he thought of how Draco had come to his rescue at the start, and in a way, had carried on rescuing him ever since. Until now. Harry felt saved, in a way that struck him down to his core. He was himself again, and he still might need help, but he was ready to be everything he could for Draco.

He was done hiding, he was done taking steps back. He was done with Mac and his pathetic games.

He was ready, he was excited and he was happy. And somehow, he knew that was going to be enough.

The End


End file.
